National Arbitration Forum Makes Minor Updates to Supplemental Rules; Also Reports Strong Start to 2010

Changes Fix Typographical Errors and Clarify Two Points

MINNEAPOLIS, June 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Arbitration Forum, an international provider of dispute resolution services, announces updates to its Supplemental Rules effective July 1, 2010. The National Arbitration Forum (FORUM) is approved by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to provide domain name dispute resolution services under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and, as part of that work, offers a set of Supplemental Rules that govern the formalities of the filing process.

The updated Supplemental Rules can be found on the FORUM website, along with redline and final drafts for users to easily see the updates that have been made. The changes are not substantively significant and are limited to:

1. Correcting a typographical error in Supplemental Rule 12.
2. Correcting a numbering error in Supplemental Rule 4.
3. Clarifying that one way to electronically transmit the Complaint or Response to the Forum is through the Forum's online electronic filing platform.
4. Removing Supplemental Rule 1(d) language added in 2007 addressing the identity of Respondent.

The change in Supplemental Rule 1(d) is a reversion to an earlier version of the Supplemental Rules as already approved by ICANN. It was made based on conversations the FORUM had with ICANN staff about the interpretation of this Supplemental Rule, as well as pending Advisories prepared by ICANN Staff.

"The National Arbitration Forum is seeking to be more proactive in its UDRP handling," said Kristine Dorrain, FORUM Legal Counsel. "Rather than waiting for ICANN to tell us to make changes to our process, we hope to notice where we can improve our service and offerings and then just make those changes to the benefit of parties."

So far, in 2010, the FORUM has seen a nearly 8% increase in filings over this period in 2008 and a 35% increase in filings over this period in 2009. Times to decision have also been reduced in the past few months to approximately 45 days to decision, with several decisions issuing in around 25 days.

"We believe these increases demonstrate filers' approval of the FORUM's streamlined online filing process," notes Dorrain. "We also believe brand owners are continuing to find a lot of value in the UDRP process as a means of protecting their online presence."

Kristine Dorrain will attend the ICANN Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, June 20-24, 2010, and plans to stay actively involved with ICANN activities related to the UDRP, new gTLDs, and new dispute resolution processes.

Cases filed with the FORUM are heard and decided by independent Dispute Resolution Panelists who are primarily lawyers and judges with significant UDRP experience or who specialize in domain name, trademark, copyright and/or e-commerce law. Panelists are located around the world and can conduct proceedings in several languages including Dutch, English, French, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Korean.

To file a claim see http://domains.adrforum.com or contact domaindispute[at]adrforum.com. To inquire about generic top-level domain (gTLD) start-up or sunrise services and offerings, contact Internet Legal Counsel Kristine Dorrain.

About the National Arbitration Forum (FORUM)

Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, the National Arbitration Forum is an approved provider of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Since 1999, over 14,000 domain name disputes worldwide have been filed through the National Arbitration Forum's state-of-the-art case management system, now optimized by Forthright. For more information, visit http://domains.adrforum.com.

SOURCE National Arbitration Forum